This catalogue is produced to accompany the artist’s first solo exhibition in a UK public institution, titled The Weight of the World. Adnan’s unique career—spanning several decades and including as wide a range of media as it does traditions and continents—has made a significant contribution to the artistic, cultural and political landscape of the 20th and 21st centuries. Presenting the impressive diversity of Adnan’s practice, the publication includes reproductions of her paintings, drawings, poetry, film, ceramics and tapestries. The title of this publication and the exhibition is taken from a new series of paintings completed specifically for this show. The catalogue includes a foreword by the Serpentine Galleries’ Director of Summer Programmes, 2016, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Artistic Director, Hans Ulrich Obrist - who has also written an introductory essay to Etel Adnan’s work. Critic and writer Kaelen Wilson-Goldie has contributed an essay that places Adnan’s art within the political and social context that has inspired it. Robert Grenier, poet and writer, has contributed a tribute to Adnan’s ability to grasp the essence of a landscape. The publication also includes artist and publisher Simone Fattal’s writings on Adnan’s practice. There are three book covers to select from, each depicting a different painting from Etel Adnan’s series The Weight of the World.
Authors
Hans Ulrich Obrist is Co-director of the Serpentine Gallery in London. Prior to this, he was Curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris from 2000 to 2006, as well as curator of Museum in progress, Vienna, from 1993 to 2000. Obrist has co-curated over 250 exhibitions since his first exhibition, the Kitchen show (World Soup) in 1991: including 1st Berlin Biennale, 1998; Utopia Station, 2003; 1st & 2nd Moscow Biennale, 2005 and 2007; Lyon Biennale, 2007; and Indian Highway, 2008-2011. Obrist is the editor of a series of conversation books published by Walther Koenig. He has also edited the writings of Gerhard Richter, Gilbert and George and Louise Bourgeois. He has contributed to over 200 book projects, his recent publications include A Brief History of Curating, dontstopdontstopdontstopdontstop, The future will be…with M/M (Paris), Interview with Hans-Peter Feldmann, and Ai Wei Wei Speaks, along with two volumes of his selected interviews (Interviews: Vol. 1 & 2). The Marathon series of public events was conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist in Stuttgart in 2005. The first in the Serpentine series, the Interview Marathon in 2006, involved interviews with leading figures in contemporary culture over 24 hours, conducted by Obrist and architect Rem Koolhaas. This was followed by the Experiment Marathon, conceived by Obrist and artist Olafur Eliasson in 2007, the Manifesto Marathon in 2008, the Poetry Marathon in 2009, Map Marathon in 2010, and the Garden Marathon in 2011. In 2009, Obrist was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). In March 2011, he was awarded the Bard College Award for Curatorial Excellence.
